1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to new and improved surfaces for bowling lanes. More particularly, it relates to bowling lanes in which the approach surface and the lane surface proper is of a suitable decorative laminate having a low gloss surface finish.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Standard bowling lanes are often constructed of suitably finished hardwood blocks or planking. In such a lane bed, usually about 41 to 42 inches wide, the construction typically consists of from about 39 to 42 maple planks or boards about one inch thick laid edgewide or on edge in line with the longitudinal axis of the lane. The surface of the lane is made flat and coated with varnish or lacquer which is then treated, as with mineral oil, to reduce wear and adjust the coefficient of friction or slippage of the surface in order to produce uniform action and control the bowling ball. The surface finish consists typically of a nitrocellulose or polyurethane lacquer which can be treated with plasticizers and other additives to provide with the oil treatment the desired wear and slippage or friction characteristics.
While wooden lanes have been in use for many years, they are subject to a number of deficiencies which have defied correction despite much work expended on the problem. For example, present wooden lanes are severely damaged in the areas of ball release and at the pin deck. Such damage in the ball release area is intensified by lofting of the ball which, upon impact, dents the lacquered and oiled wooden surface and damages the lane to a lesser degree even with normal release of the ball. Surface damage in the pin deck area is primarily caused by contact of the struck pins with the surface. Under ordinary circumstances, standard bowling lanes are inspected and often refinished and resurfaced on an annual basis. Such refinishing is necessary in order to meet set bowling standards and in order to provide uniformity of all lanes so that comparable performance and scoring can be attained insofar as these factors are controlled by the physical condition of the bowling lane itself as opposed to skill of the bowler.
Materials other than wood have been suggested for use in bowling lanes. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 2,531,168 teaches a top surface layer for bowling alleys formed of laminated plastic compounds such as phenolic, vinyl, acrylic, cellulose acetate, etc. And U.S. Pat. No. 3,014,722 discloses bowling alley lanes formed of sections of laminated fibrous sheet material plies. Other materials have also been disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,670,049 (a moisture curable polyurethane coating composition suitable for finishing bowling lanes); U.S. Pat. No. 3,670,060 (metal bowling alley lanes); U.S. Re. No. 25,496 (granite as a material for fabricating bowling alley lanes); U.S. Pat. No. 2,679,396 (hard rubber as a bowling alley lane material); and U.S. Pat. No. 2,193,468 (grass like carpet useful in covering a game alley). None of these wood substitutes have proven to be commercially acceptable and wood lanes predominantly remain the materials in common usage today.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,674,619 discloses the use of aluminum foil having a thickness of about 0.3 mil bonded to kraft paper to obtain a textured surface. U.S. Pat. No. 3,418,189 discloses the use of non-adherable aluminium foil as a decorative stencil in producing decorative laminates. And U.S. Pat. No. 3,445,327 discloses use of a thin layer of dead soft foil such as aluminum foil to provide a textured surface appearance on a decorative laminate.
Japanese application No. SHO-50-111020 laid open for inspection on May 18, 1976 as Publication No. SHO-51-56548, corresponds to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 506,069 filed Sept. 16, 1974, now abandoned, (the disclosure of which was carried forward in U.S. patent application No. 926,604, filed July 21, 1978 [hereinafter the '604 application]) and discloses a high pressure laminate surface suitable for bowling alley lanes. These bowling lane surfaces have been successfully tested in the United States and been welcomed as an advance in the art. See e.g. Bowling January, 1977 at page 6.
The '604 application discloses a bowling lane surface which is a wear and impact resistant decorative plastic laminate having a plurality of thermosetting resin impregnated decorative fibrous print sheet and an overlying melamine resin-containing protective layer, the decorative surfacing being in the form of panels which can be cemented, fixed or suitably adhered to the lane substrate which can be of wood as above or of hardboard, plywood, flakeboard, chipboard or the like, or even of concrete, cement-asbestos board, filled asphalt, stone or metal sheets as desired. The laminate surface is so constructed as to approximate the same reaction to ball delivery as wooden lanes. It has also been suggested that the lane surface be made of sheets of resinous material such as phenolformaldehyde and the like.
At the ball delivery end of the lane, there is normally a foul line which divides the lane or alley proper from the approach or runway area. In actual play, no player is permitted to cross without being penalized. Players typically take one or more steps up to the vicinity of the foul line and slide their feet on the approach area near the foul line while releasing the bowling ball on the lane or alley proper. Although the decorative plastic laminate surface described hereinabove is perfectly acceptable within the usual range of texture in terms of its slipperiness, it has a high gloss sheen.
For psychological reasons, players equate the high gloss sheen with a slippery approach even though the slide characteristics of the decorative plastic laminate surface were judged excellent by the American Bowling Congress. In particular, women bowlers and hard throwing, less skilled bowlers, tended to judge the approach or runway area on such plastic laminate surfaced bowling lanes too slippery.